Thailand Floods Disrupt Global Electronics, Automotive Supply Chain

The destructive floods in Bangkok and Thailand's northern provinces have disrupted global supply chains as major production hubs for electronic supplies and automotive parts are now submerged.

Japanese automotive giant Honda has had to halt production in the Philippines due to parts supply disruptions.

In a statement, Honda Cars Philippines Inc. suspended local production as its Thai subsidiary in the Rojana Industrial Park, Ayutthaya province, is now under water and had halted operations since Oct. 4.

Toyota Motors also announced production will slow down in its Southeast Asian facilities.

The production of Canon printers and cameras was also halted as local suppliers of digital parts are in Thailand. It earlier issued a statement warning of possible delays in its inkjet and digital camera productions lines in Thailand.

"Canon has halted its production lines in Thailand in response to the flooding in the country. In addition, while Canon does not have camera manufacturing facilities in Thailand, our part suppliers have also sustained damage due to the floods which will affect camera production," the statement said.

The New York Times reported that external hard drives manufacturer Western Digital, which produces one-quarter of the world's supply of "sliders," an integral part of hard-disk drives, had been submerged in neck-deep floods.

Japanese electronics manufacturers shifted their production plants to Thailand during the late 1980s towards the 1990s to gain better cost efficiencies.

But these companies have not anticipated the occurrence of destructive floods in Thailand, which has a history of getting inundated.

According to the Bangkok city government, the acquisition of additional water pumps will hasten the draining of water from main roads.

"We should be able to drain water out of all main roads within two weeks and in about one month," said Bangkok Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra.